Shopping Lists and Dissapointment

I decided a while ago that when September rolled around and the whole DCnU thing launched officially I was going to start buying comics. While, I've never bought comics on a week-by-week basis, I'm no stranger to comics either. I've studied them in university and I have purchased/read many assorted collections or graphic novels. I have a healthy respect for the medium.

And I know enough about superheroes to get by in a crowded comic-con line too. I actually like superheroes and superhero narratives. I've seen the movies, watched the cartoons, read the wiki articles. But that is where it stops, because, seriously, that back log of overly complex and conflicting canon really makes me avoid superhero comics as a whole.

That's why I thought this reboot for DCnU was a fantastic idea. I gotta be smack dab near the middle of DC's target demographic. If I don't want to read about BATMAN every month, something is wrong.

Last Wednesday, I tried to get to the comic shop to pick up the new Justice League #1. Because of work and life I never managed to get there during open hours. And, honestly, Justice League doesn't really spark much or an interest so I wasn't too inclined to try too hard to get myself a copy.

But this Wednesday, September 7th, was a day I was excited for. First off, we had Jeff Lemire's Animal Man. I've been a fan of Lemire's since he was still publishing the Essex County stuff and I just recently started reading Sweet Tooth. I also love Grant Morrison's work with Animal Man too. So the combo of Lemire and Animal Man really held my interest in the DCnU itself.

I also wanted to get my hands on the new Batgirl. Aside from already selling out it's first two prints, I wanted to try reading a comic by a team a women. The medium has its issues with women and feminism so I wanted to see what the relaunch would do to try to solve that.

What I hoped to pick up today at the comic shop:

Animal Man
Batgirl
Swamp Thing (supposedly one of DC's darker and more horror oriented new books)
Stormwatch (I'm interested in the idea of merging canons and worlds)
and then maybe Superman and Batman titles if they looked okay in a flip through.

I had to stay late at work today though so I didn't get to the comic store very early and I could tell by the selection. Both Animal Man and Batgirl were already sold out. In the end, I picked up:

Swamp Thing
Superman Action Comics
Justice League International (BOOSTER GOLD!!!)
Stormwatch

I've already read two of them and I feel pretty positive about the experience so far. I'm looking forward to my potential new life as a month-by-month comic reader.

Discussion on each book to come in the next week.

Now, to find those two books.